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Athens ranks No. 51

Posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008

By Staff Reports

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Sporting News' Best Sports Cities rankings are out and Athens comes in No. 51 in the 15th annual list.

"Athens is a great sports city, as anyone who has spent any time there can attest. Win or lose, fans there support the 'Dawgs, and given their teams' success this year, it's why it is one of our highest-ranked college towns," said Sporting News Chief of Correspondents Bob Hille, who has coordinated the rankings since their expansion 12 years ago. "But people elsewhere should know that Athens has a little something for every fan."

This year's list features 400 cities and towns in the United States and Canada, ranked based on a variety of factors, including each city's number of teams and their regular-season won-lost records, playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids, championships, power ratings, competition, fan fervor, attendance, stadium/arena quality, ticket prices/availability, franchise ownership and marquee appeal of athletes.